GOP 2016 frontrunner Donald Trump appeared on this Sunday's Meet the Press and when asked about the Black Lives Matter movement in America, proved he was just as clueless as the rest of the talking heads on the right with this response to host Chuck Todd. CHUCK TODD: And, again, I know we're going to get into a lot more issues with you in a couple weeks. But I want to ask you about Black Lives Matter. The latest shooting of a white police officer shooting an unarmed black man. Do you see this as a crisis in America? DONALD...

* Trump said Sunday that 'black people 'are worse now than just about ever' * Claims Obama has done nothing for low employment rates * Weekend poll showed Trump has his greatest support yet nationally He has a 24.9 percent vote among Republicans, according to poll Days after assuring that he has the support of Hispanic voters, Donald Trump has now claimed that African-American people are also on his side - and that Obama has let them down. In yet another round of bashing the President, the billionaire said Obama has done 'absolutely nothing' for the black community. He gave...

Presidential candidate Donald Trump said Sunday that he pays as little in taxes as possible just like every other taxpayer in America. “I fight like hell to pay as little as possible for two reasons. Number one, I’m a businessman. And that’s the way you’re supposed to do it,” Trump said in an interview with CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “The other reason is that I hate the way our government spends our taxes. I hate the way they waste our money. Trillions and trillions of dollars of waste and abuse. And I hate it.” Trump has not yet released his...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) will spend much of August on an eight-state “Cruz Country” bus tour through the South, as his team looks beyond the first four 2016 states to March’s delegate-heavy SEC Primary states, including Georgia and Texas. Cruz advisers say they’re not only vigorously competing in the early states, but already organizing the so-called SEC states (a nickname from college sports’ Southeastern Conference), with advertising planned through March 15. An adviser said the objective of the bus trip is “to ensure that by the time other candidates get to the March 1 voting states following early state voting,...

The Trump surge shows no sign of abating Donald Trump continues to lead the Republican primary field for the 2016 presidential nomination just days before the leading candidates debate for the first time, according to results from a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released on Sunday. The poll found that Trump was the first choice for 19% of Republican primary voters, surging ahead of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker with 15% and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush with 14%. Trump’s lead, according to the Journal, is a “significant” jump from the previous WSJ/NBC poll conducted in June, when only 1% of...

PITTSBURGH — Republican rivals are trying desperately to dent Donald Trump, as he leads in polls, dominates media coverage, and builds a campaign organization using his personal wealth. Not long ago, they came to him with hats in hand. Internal memos obtained by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and public filings, show that officials courted the celebrity magnate for years, seeking and receiving ever-increasing donations, especially to GOP-related organizations trying to elect more governors and senators. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who recently criticized Mr. Trump, was notably successful at convincing the developer and beauty pageant owner to write checks. Now Mr....

Emails released Friday show former Sec. of State Hillary Clinton and other State Department officials discussing how to go about helping a powerful Democratic senator who was asking for a job for his daughter in the agency in summer 2009. The pressure paid off for the now-retired Iowa senator, Tom Harkin, as his daughter Jennifer was hired on as the assistant to the ambassador-at-large at the State Department’s Office of Global Criminal Justice. The gig was in a small office that had a “limited number of slots,” another Clinton aide wrote in a separate email chain published Friday. “Remind me...

Donald Trump wants to make America great again. This is how he wants to do it: If Trump were elected president, he says, he would launch the U.S. government into a massive building project — and a massive manhunt — both at once. On the U.S.-Mexico border, Trump would build a long, impenetrable wall. In the rest of the country, he would pressure the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants to “self-deport” — and, if they don't, round them up to deport en masse. Later, Trump says, “the good ones” could come back. He also wants to go on a building...

Donald Trump is surging in GOP presidential polls ahead of next week’s first Republican debate among the party’s presidential candidates, but the controversial businessman finished third in a sampling of conservative activists, according to a survey released Saturday by the St. Louis Tea Party Coalition. In email polling of 122 coalition members conducted July 26 through July 29, Texas Senator Ted Cruz came in first at 29 percent, followed by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker at 27 percent, with Trump at 19 percent. The rest of the crowded GOP field finished in single digits. You can see the entire poll here....

As real-estate mogul Donald Trump rocketed up the polls in the GOP presidential primary, many observers have been left scratching their heads. After all, his baffled critics argue, Trump is merely a celebrity candidate with a gigantic amount of name recognition being further lifted by the media maelstrom that follows his every tweet, statement, and speech. Rival candidate Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) this week attributed Trump's rise to a brief "loss of sanity" in the race. "I think this is a temporary sort of loss of sanity. But we're going to come back our senses and look for somebody serious...

Donald Trump insists he doesn’t need help from wealthy donors for his White House bid, but that hasn’t stopped equestrians, Los Angeles filmmakers, Hispanics and contractors from setting up PACs to boost his candidacy. Four PACs have registered with the Federal Election Commission in recent days to raise and spend money on behalf of Trump. Organizers believe the real estate tycoon will eventually need outside funding, despite his tough talk. “I think there will be an acknowledgement from [Trump’s] group that they need to widen the financial base,” says Clifford Martin, a documentary filmmaker from Los Angeles and treasurer of...

Donald Trump is many things -- a demagogue and a pompous blowhard, a braggart and a race baiter -- but in the end, he's nobody's fool, except perhaps his own. Thus, his recent lauding of Sarah Palin and his hiring of her former Chief of Staff reveal that Trump's campaign for the presidency is, ultimately, more of a circus act than it is a serious endeavor for the White House. If Trump were really serious, he'd be keeping the quitter governor at bay. Trump and Palin have many things in common--and Palin has long been enamored of the Trump family's...

While perusing the articles and stories one can find on the computer (my wife says I spend way too much time on this thing), and the posted comments related to the articles, I came across a comment concerning Donald Trump (imagine that) and his lack of qualifications to be the next president. A poster had commented that Republicans can’t seem to get it right in their selection of candidates; notably, with Trump in the mix. Deciding to have a little fun with this person, I pointed out that the Democrats hadn’t done such a hot job picking a candidate in...

In 2012, six Republicans gave $5 million or more over the course of the entire presidential campaign. For 2016, nine Republicans gave $5 million or more in the first six months. Donors can contribute unlimited amounts to candidates' super PACs, and they have. Here are the nine Republicans who you need to know as their donations shape the primaries. Dan and Farris Wilks: $15 million The billionaire brothers made their fortunes in fracking, and along with their wives, are sending $15 million to boost fellow Texans Ted Cruz's presidential campaign. Robert Mercer: $11.3 million Mercer, a reclusive hedge funder from...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Mitt Romney is out there ripping into Ted Cruz, and I made the observation that I can't recall a presidential candidate -- losing presidential candidate -- ripping presidential candidates in his own party in the next election cycle. I was trying to think, in the modern era, if there was an example of it. I couldn't think of one. It wasn't so much trying to think of Reagan's 11th commandment as I was thinking more about establishment Republican versus upstart Tea Party conservative. By the way, here's another thing: I've been doing... In the course of show...

BIRCH RUN, MI — The Michigan Democratic Party is organizing a protest outside the Saginaw County venue where GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump will speak on Tuesday, Aug. 11. The Facebook page for the protest, "Rally Against Donald Trump," was created on July 30 by the Michigan Democratic Party. "We cannot let Trump's anti-immigrant, anti-veteran beliefs be welcome anywhere in our state," the event page states. A poster for the protest references the current GOP frontrunner's "anti-immigrant, anti-veteran statements." Trump will be the keynote speaker at a Lincoln Day event, a fundraiser for the Republican Party in Saginaw and Genesee...

He might run. No he won’t. He might run. No he won’t. For nearly 30 years and during at least four election cycles, Donald Trump teased the American public that he might run for president of the United States. To standing-room-only crowds in tiny New Hampshire restaurants to viewers of “Meet the Press,” he told anyone who would listen that he could win if he ever ran. So no wonder in late May the New York Post ran a story under this headline: “Stop pretending — Donald Trump is not running for president.” But after all that hemming and hawing...

For a person who wants to be President of the United States, Sen. Ted Cruz is sure not acting presidential. When he was Majority Leader, Harry Reid called Ted Cruz a "schoolyard bully" on the Senate floor. I won't go that far, because I don't know the man personally; I've never spoken to him, and it would be unfair for me to characterize someone in such a personal fashion without doing so. But I will reiterate something that I wrote last March: Sen. Cruz is not qualified to be President of the United States. It's not because he's a bully...

Texas Senator Ted Cruz is a very smart accomplished guy. That does not mean he will ever be elected president, the office he currently seeks. His views are well to the right of most Americans, and that includes Republicans. Cruz also has a penchant for losing the filter that exists between his very capable brain and his mouth. Slamming one of your party’s leaders on the Senate floor isn’t normally a good idea. In national polls, Cruz gets about 5 percent of the Republican vote. Among the early voting states, he does a little better in Iowa and South Carolina...

In his pursuit of the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, Rand Paul has made sure to put lots of distance between himself and his father—and Dad appears to be firing back.Ron Paul does not approve of his son Rand Paul’s position on the Iran deal, and he let him know Thursday evening in a speech that called him out—though not by name. “Right now one of the big issues, you know, in the news, probably on foreign policy, is whether or not the Obama administration should talk to the Iranians,” the elder Paul told the crowd at the Young Americans for...

Planned Parenthood is certainly the target, but its destruction is not the goal, any more than destroying ACORN was the true goal back in 2008. Destruction would be a happy side effect, but the true goal is to destroy the pathway for women to have access to legal and safe abortions. See more of our coverage on the misleading Center for Medical Progress videos here. http://rhrealitycheck.org/tag/center-for-medical-progress-video/ To understand exactly how the most recent Planned Parenthood sting was planned and coordinated, you must go back to 2013. In July of 2013, Washington, D.C. reporter David Corn revealed the existence of a...

The Tea Partyer was secretly recorded bashing Romney as the worst GOP presidential candidate on Earth.When Tea Party firebrand and Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz lashed out Mitt Romney yesterday for daring to condemn his over-the-top charge that the Obama administration had become the worldÂ’s leading state sponsor of terror by negotiating a nuclear nonproliferation deal with Iran, it was hardly the first time the Texas senator has attacked his partyÂ’s 2012 presidential nominee. According to a new report in the National Journal, during a private speech back in May to the Council for National Policy, a secretive group of...

Never have so many done so much to reveal so little than in the collected journalism about presidential nomination contests. The personality-driven trivia. The hokey generalizations. The bogs of conventional wisdom. The day-by-day scorekeeping that ends up worse than uninformative; it is anti-informative. (Just ask Presidents George Romney, Edmund Muskie, Scoop Jackson, John Connally, Richard Gephardt, and Hillary Rodham Clinton.) The utter failure to inform the public of the actual, on-the-ground dynamics of the nuts-and-bolts process by which the parties chose their standard-bearers, and the larger dynamics that drive party trends from decade to decade. And, last but not least,...

Toby Neugebauer, the son of a U.S. Texas congressman, donated almost a third of the funds raised by Super PACs supporting presidential hopeful U.S. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, according to campaign finance reports filed Friday. Neugebauer, son of Lubbock Republican Randy Neugebauer, donated $10 million to "Keep the Promise II," one of four PACs for Cruz of the same name. Neugebauer is the co-founder of Quantum Energy Partners, a Houston-based private equity firm in the energy industry. According to Bloomberg, the firm has managed more than $7 billion in commitments since 1998. Neugebauer is heavily involved in the energy industry,...

Days after Donald Trump talked up the idea of putting Sarah Palin in his administration, the former Republican vice presidential candidate and tea party favorite is showing she's got Trump's back. Palin wrote Friday on the conservative Breitbart news site that Trump's candidacy will continue to appeal to "ordinary Americans" despite what she described as a bludgeon of attacks from GOP elites, pundits and the media. Calling Trump's candidacy "a shot in the arm for ordinary Americans fed up with the predictable poll-tested blather of squishy milquetoast career politicians," Palin argued that Trump's style and message is appealing to voters...

The obvious problem when sitting down (or standing up) and trying to rank the 10 people most likely to wind up as the Republican presidential nominee next year can be summed up in two words: Donald Trump. On one hand, Trump is way ahead in most national polls on the primary race and even leads (or comes close to leading) in surveys conducted in early-voting states like Iowa and New Hampshire. On the other, he is Donald Trump. (The last time I ranked the 2016 GOP field -- June 12 -- Trump was barely a blip on the radar and...

Columnist and author of “Adios, America” Ann Coulter stated she could see Donald Trump winning the presidency “more than I can see any of the other ones winning the nomination and winning the presidency right now” on Monday’s “Hannity” on the Fox News Channel. Coulter said she would continue supporting Trump “as long as he keeps talking the way he’s talking on immigration.” and “I can see him more than I can see any of the other ones winning the nomination and winning the presidency right now, certainly winning the presidency.” Earlier, she stated, “My only quibble with him is...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Salon.com's Joan Walsh reacts to the Bloomberg focus group with Trump supporters in New Hampshire, saying she "feels sad" for them because "they really don't have a firm grasp on reality." "I look at those people and I feel sad," Walsh said. "That is really such a low common denominator. They're all Republicans, they're all not going to go vote for him but they all seem to see this wishful thinking." Host Chris Matthews couldn't help but laugh at Walsh as she was talking. Former chairman of the Republican National Committee Michael Steele hit back at Walsh on Thursday's broadcast...

CALLING ALL SOUTH CAROLINA FREEPERS: The "low-information" voters do NOT determine the winners of Primaries like they do General Elections. Lindsey Graham and the GOP Establishment will get "down and dirty" in the SC Primary. And, I know he won his Senate Primary in 2014, against some light-weights that no one had ever heard of, but, Graham, and the GOP Establishment, have never come up against men like Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. All you SC FReepers need to get organized now. Help Trump and Cruz defeat Lindsey Graham in his home state. What a slap in the face that...

In June, I was asked to be prepared to give a presentation on Ted Cruz for a meeting on July 7. As I went about my initial research into this man now running for the Republican nomination for president, I realized that there was a lot of information available. Much of it has to do with positions on the issues of our time while some being quite negative. In the end, it seemed like a better idea to try to predict how this man would behave if ever elected to be our president. To begin, young Cruz grew up under...

It had all the markings of a Washington house party: guests milling about, talk of politics and policy, a few custom cocktails and a crowd that would make a fire-code enforcer sweat. Oh, and Senator Bernie Sanders. Indeed, on what the campaign is calling one of the most important days of its upstart movement, Mr. Sanders came to this small apartment in southwest Washington, looked into a camera and spoke live to what his campaign said was more than 100,000 supporters nationwide. “Enough is enough,” Mr. Sanders, a Democratic presidential candidate from Vermont, told his followers, listing grievance after grievance,...

Republican Donald Trump calls for the deportation of all 11 million people estimated to be living in the country illegally while allowing the "really good people" to return. Such an effort may be more difficult than Trump realizes because deporting so many people means finding them first. The government does not know the identities of many of the millions of people who have come into the country illegally or remained after their legally issued visas expired. Locating immigrants who don't have a legal immigration status has stymied officials for decades.

(AUDIO-AT-LINK)U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, one of many recent targets of fellow presidential hopeful Donald Trump, took the opportunity to swing back at Trump during an appearance on Boston Herald Radio’s “Morning Meeting” show. “I see (the GOP) getting killed if he is the nominee,” the South Carolina Republican said. “We are not going to elect a man president of the United States who has said the things he’s said about John McCain, who believes that most illegal immigrants are drug dealers and rapists, who has openly espoused the fact that he thinks the president of the United States was born...

Donald Trump, who’s polling at the head of the 2016 Republican primary pack, has finally decided to hire a national political director. The media mogul’s presidential campaign announced Thursday that it had hired Michael Glassner for the job. “Michael is responsible for developing and implementing a national political plan and will oversee strategic planning operations nationwide on behalf of Donald J. Trump for President,” Trump’s campaign said in a statement. In the 2008 cycle, Glassner served as a top aide to Sarah Palin on Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign. He’s also a former aide to former Kansas Sen. Bob Dole,...

Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said Thursday that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's rhetoric on Iran "hurts the cause." "I am opposed to the Iran deal, but @SenTedCruz is way over the line on the Obama terrorism charge. Hurts the cause," Romney, acting in his emerging role as party elder, tweeted Thursday. Mitt Romney âś” â€Ž@MittRomney I am opposed to the Iran deal, but @SenTedCruz is way over the line on the Obama terrorism charge. Hurts the cause. 6:40 AM - 30 Jul 2015 Cruz, a 2016 GOP presidential candidate, said Monday that President Barack Obama's administration will become "the...

The latest fundraising deadline was the first for several 2016 presidential candidates. They provide a view into how all the Oval Office hopefuls are faring so far. Furthermore, thanks to an impressive interactive map from the National Journal, we can chart each candidate’s fundraising by county. By compiling the county numbers, we found that in total $615,514* was contributed by Pennsylvanians to the eligible GOP presidential candidates from April 1st to June 30th. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz finished first with $188,154 in donations from thirty-three of the counties in the commonwealth. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio came in second with $78,160...

London's City A.M. ^ | July 28, 2015 | Ryan Bourne, head of public policy at the Institute of Economic Affairs.

The Republican Party must be tearing its hair out. For years, visitors from the US have extolled the strength of the party’s potential Presidential candidates for 2016. The pack is certainly more impressive than in 2012 and, with the exception of one or two candidates, they are ostensibly advocates of relatively free market policies. In a campaign against an unlikeable Hillary Clinton, many conservatives were quietly confident of victory in 2016. But all these voices are being drowned out by the brash businessman and property magnate Donald Trump. Despite widespread criticism for his remarks about “rapist” illegal Mexican immigrants, Trump...

MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - For Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, there's something awkward about the Harley-Davidson motorcycles that he has been posing on at presidential campaign stops: each one bears a sticker on its frame that reads "Union made in the USA." Walker has made the iconic American brand a centerpiece of his campaign kick-off tour this month, visiting four dealerships and sometimes showing off his own 2003 Harley Road King as he seeks to harness its appeal to older white male voters. But there is another side to Harley that the Republican candidate has been less vocal about - it is...

The Shelby County Republican Party announced Wednesday they will be hosting a “Southern Social” with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tx.) and moon pies as part of a series of events the presidential candidate has scheduled that day in Alabama. Cruz will be meeting voters and speaking at the Pelham Civic Complex on Sunday August 9 from 2pm-4pm. The event is casual and open to the public. Yellowhammer’s Cliff Sims will also be in attendance and will be introducing the senator at the event. Campaign sources say Senator Cruz may also attend a service that morning at Briarwood Presbyterian Church. Via a...

Donald Trump won't be getting my vote in the GOP presidential primary. However, contrary to popular belief, I'm grateful he's put the GOP on life support, and he isn't alone. Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, Ben Carson and Marco Rubio are doing what's been unseen since Ronald Reagan--speaking above the political and media elite and connecting directly to the people. I suspect Trump will fade. And when he does, those who can effectively communicate a vision for America with passion and optimism along with a plan to restore her to prominence will be poised to siphon off his supporters. So how...

The Koch brothers are freezing out Donald Trump from their influential political operation — denying him access to their state-of-the-art data and refusing to let him speak to their gatherings of grass-roots activists or major donors. Despite a long and cordial relationship between the real estate showman and David Koch, as well as a raft of former Koch operatives who are now running Trump’s presidential campaign, the Koch political operation appears to have concluded that Trump is the wrong standard-bearer for the GOP. And the network of Koch-backed policy and political outfits is using behind-the-scenes influence to challenge Trump more...

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is not exactly eating humble pie. Just a few days after an extraordinary public scolding by three Republican Party leaders on the Senate floor, including fellow Texas Sen. John Cornyn, Cruz is continuing his aggressive anti-Washington campaign. On Wednesday, he seized the spotlight at a Senate Armed Services Committee and sharply questioned Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz on the nuclear agreement with Iran. In the afternoon, Cruz chaired a Senate Judiciary Committee subcommittee hearing and railed at IRS Commissioner John Koskinen over his agency’s targeting...

For Republicans eager to cast The Donald out of the GOP presidential primary, a warning: The only thing more difficult than a Trump in the race, may be a Trump who's no longer in the race. The apoplexy over how much damage Trump is doing to the party brand—and its eventual non-Trump nominee—in his present role as a recalcitrant, incendiary, front-running candidate, may well be trumped (if you will) by the fulminations and machinations of an ex-candidate. It would be one thing if Trump went graciously and serenely into surrogacy, whenever that moment came, giving a no-strings-attached endorsement to the...

When the home team suffers an unexpected and startling defeat on its own field, fans and commentators will most likely take notice. And that’s just what’s happening today as the GOP front-runner for the 2016 presidential nomination, Donald Trump, scores a big win in a state where a rival or two could certainly be considered favorite sons. The website Florida Politics reports on what it calls the “shock poll” that finds Trump leading Jeb Bush by a significant margin in Florida, the state where George W.’s younger brother served as a very popular governor from 1999-2007. According to the just-released...

Joe Biden has dreamt of this moment. Hillary Clinton’s campaign is in free-fall and Republicans are busily re-enacting Lord of the Flies. After a lifetime of striving and six years as Loyal Number Two, the door has inched open for Biden to run. Joe Biden is popular, has ample name recognition and most likely the backing of the Obama White House. Moreover, he is liberal to his core, but does not alarm big money Democrats the way Elizabeth Warren might. Biden has a shot and could be extremely dangerous to the GOP. Hillary Clinton’s polls are crashing. The once inevitable...

Ted Cruz, the first Latino elected to the Senate from Texas and the first Hispanic law clerk for a chief justice of the Supreme Court, has more potential to gain than other presidential candidates as citizens begin to learn more about him. Most voters have yet to hear and see him at this best--when he is debating. While Cruz begins this week preparing for the upcoming debates in August, his opponents continue to worry about Donald Trump's strong momentum. Often compared to President Ronald Reagan, some of the similarities are prominent. During the 1980 election, Reagan was despised by many...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Jeb Bush actually said, sometime in the last 24 hours, that his kids have been made to feel uncomfortable, discriminated against, because their skin is darker. You remember I read a piece yesterday from Angelo Codevilla. He makes the point that the American people are tired of being told to support losers. And we've made great heroes out of people in the losing column, like McCain and the Vietnam War. Codevilla said the American people want winners, and who are you aiming at when you're Jeb Bush and you talk about your kids being discriminated because of...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Donald Trump distanced himself on Tuesday from comments one of his top advisers made in an interview while defending the Republican presidential candidate from a decades-old rape accusation. Trump said in an interview with CNN's Don Lemon aired Tuesday night that he would not fire his top aide, Michael Cohen, after Cohen told the Daily Beast that legally "you cannot rape your spouse." "He's speaking for himself. He's not speaking for me, obviously, but I did tell him I disagreed with him," Trump told Lemon, calling The Daily Beast a "joke" desperate to remain relevant. "Michael was extremely angry because...